Kris Jenkins: Cam Newton is a pr**k, and that’s a good thing

Former Carolina Panthers defensive tackle Kris Jenkins has a very strong opinion of Cam Newton. Jenkins believes Newton is a “pr**ck,” but he means it in the best way possible.

During the Week 7 edition of CBS Local Sports’ “Cover 3” segment, where experts discuss three different topics for two minutes each, Jenkins was asked to discuss whether or not Newton should be benched.

“I like his press conferences,” Jenkins said. “He’s a pr**k. You know what, let’s be clear with it — Cam is a pr**k. But that’s what you want on a football team. How many old school gladiators do we talk about? (People say) the game is getting artistic and it’s not as tough as it used to be. Everybody’s not concerned with (being a) blowhard with the media.”

When the topic of Newton calling a female reporter “sweetheart” came up, Jenkins was quick to say that he doesn’t feel like it was that big of a deal.

“The dude feel’s like he’s charming,” Jenkins said. “He is attractive for a guy. Do ya’ll want him to go out there and act ugly because he’s not winning right now? He can’t. He can’t do that. He can’t (return) the Heisman Trophy. He can’t give that stuff back.”

Calling a female reporter “sweetheart” is disrespectful no matter how you look at it, so I’m not sure what him winning the Heisman or being attractive has to do with it. Not to mention, the sweater he was wearing was an absolutely joke.

It’s better than pulling the race card like this Hall of Famer did, but Jenkins seems to have missed the point here. It would be one thing if Cam gave one-word answers in his press conferences or was simply furious about losing, but the whole end of the world thing has to stop. Leaders should at least be able to pretend they are calm and collected, not put on a show at the podium and sulk in the locker room after games.